Acme Packet

Today, like a cartoonish light bulb that went off above my head, I came to the realization that it'd probably be pretty easy to highlight the constant gaffes of a new CEO each week. So, consider this the inaugural "CEO Gaffe of the Week" and look for this to be a regular look every Friday at some goofy or downright dumb calls made by some of the CEOs of stocks you potentially own.

We remain confident in our ability to execute on our full-year business outlook. Consequently, we expect total earnings to range between $315 million and $320 million representing full-year growth of between 36% and 38%. ... It's clear that the fundamentals of our business and market demand for our products remain strong. ... Until at that time [January], we are very focused on executing what we expect will be the best quarter and the best year in the company's history.

To the corner, Mr. OryIs this the end of the road for Acme Packet? Probably not, given that service providers are switching in droves to the company's VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) products. However, this is a disturbing two-quarter trend of missing or revising expectations and hamstringing investors along for the ride. Until Acme can hit its own expectations, the company and CEO Andy Ory deserve to sit in the corner facing the wall until they've learned not to mess with shareholders' hopes and dreams.